It is said
that there was once a monk who prayed much that he might have the marks
of the Lord upon his hands and feet. A vision was given him in which he
was shown a mark on the Lord’s body that the world had forgotten. It
was the mark upon the shoulder, and the monk learned that he could only
have the marks on the hands and feet as he first had the mark upon the
shoulder.

—A. E. Gregory

~Chained To
The Dead

The Romans
sometimes compelled a captive to be joined face to face with a dead
body, and to bear it about until the horrible effluvia destroyed the
life of the living victim. Virgil describes this cruel punishment:

“The living and the dead at his command

Were coupled face to face, and hand to hand;

Till choked with stench, in loathed embraces tied,

The lingering wretches pined away and died.”

~Cross-Country
Cross-Bearing

The Rev.
Arthur Blessit, mod minister to hippies on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip,
made a cross-country cross-carrying journey. It took him—and four
members of his rock group, the Eternal Rush—seven months and 3,500
miles to do it. Along the way, Blessit held evangelistic rallies, urging
Christians to meet him at the Washington Monument—but not with empty
hands.

“Christians
need to come and give something,” he proclaimed. He asked all to bring
or send two gifts for the nation’s needy. And those who reached the
capital also found a bloodmobile available for a third gift.